Student identity and the need to make classroom mathematics relevant to engineering practice

Craig, Tracy S

Student identity and the need to make classroom mathematics relevant to engineering practice

Conference Paper

2015-07-29

Publisher

South African Society for Engineering Education

Publisher

University of Cape Town

Series

First Conference of the Society for Engineering Education of South Africa

Abstract

Cobb and Hodge’s (2005) identity theoretical framework suggests that learning is facilitated if normative identity (realised and co-constructed in the classroom by lecturer and student) is reconciled with core identity (the trajectory of who the student is and where he feels he is going). The cohort of students involved in the study discussed in this article largely embodies trajectories of social mobility, with a great willingness to study engineering for its role in providing a way out of poverty rather than for the sake of the discipline itself. The pedagogic implication is that teaching must proceed sensitive to the reality of the students which is that they potentially have little idea what engineering entails other than a route out of a disadvantaged background.